COVID-19 Surveillance without the Dystopia, Please: Daily Brief

COVID-19 surveillance without the dystopia, Please; Pakistani workers vulnerable to economic consequences of coronavirus; discrimination against Syrian refugees in Lebanon; Cambodian power grab amidst coronavirus outbreak; dozens stranded at Ukrainian border; Uganda's use of excessive force against citizens; human rights film festival goes online; and shhhhh... don't say the name - EU leaders engage in absurd "Voldemort diplomacy."
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Governments’ use of digital surveillance technologies to fight the COVID-19 pandemic should respect human rights and should not be used to introduce invasive or pervasive digital surveillance, a joint statement by over 100 groups said today.

In Russia, for example, the government is considering a highly intrusive online regime which would use residents’ geolocation data and financial transactions to track movements and ensure compliance with the lockdown.

Pakistani authorities should take urgent steps to mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19 on its most vulnerable workers. One provincial government is showing the way...

In Lebanon, at least 21 municipalities have introduced discriminatory restrictions on specifically Syrian refugees as part of their efforts to combat COVID-19, undermining the country’s public health response.

Instead of passing laws to protect public health, the regime in Cambodia uses the COVID19 pandemic as a pretext to assert absolute power over all aspects of civil, political, social and economic life. 

In response to the threat of COVID-19, Ukrainian authorities shut down all movement across the line of contact in eastern Ukraine, but they have not made adequate provisions for those who may be stranded as a result.

The Ugandan government should ensure that its security forces refrain from using excessive force or committing other abuses when enforcing measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Join us online tomorrow for the screening of 'Crip Camp', followed by a live conversation with its directors and Carlos Ríos Espinosa, Senior Researcher and Advocate in the Disability Rights Division at Human Rights Watch.

Finally, shhhhhh... Don't utter the name... That seems to be the approach of EU leaders and most EU member state leaders to Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán seizing unlimited power in his country earlier this week. They keep issuing general statements of principles that are theoretically about the situation but never mention one key word: "Hungary."

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